“Calling Findler a friend,” said Stein, “strikes me as a bit rash. Friendship with that man isn’t something anyone’s ever been able to boast about.”

“You may be right, but if you no longer have any real friends left, you sometimes just have to squint and pretend you do. At least that can be a little reassuring. But what are you planning to do now?”

“I’ve taken a room there,” Stein pointed to the hotel that Silbermann had just left.

“In that case … perhaps we’ll see each other again.”

They said good-bye.

Silbermann watched the other man leave. There was something calming about Stein’s gait, something confident and life-affirming. He didn’t place his feet straight on the ground, but at an angle, and his body had an almost imperceptible sway as he walked. As usual, his bowler was tilted back on his neck, and as he watched, Silbermann forgot all about the time and circumstances. He felt as though they’d just made a deal after all, neither particularly good or bad, merely something to keep connected, to stay in business together.

And to think that once I backed him up for credit in the amount of fifty thousand marks, Silbermann recalled wistfully. Stein & Co., serious people, not a big firm, but solid. And now on the verge of ruin.

He stepped into a restaurant to have a bite for supper. I ought to have invited Stein, he thought, as he looked over the menu, but then I, too, was afraid of his Jewish nose.

He ate with relish. After supper he lit a cigar and spent a few peaceful moments thinking of nothing. Then he remembered what he had to do and hurried over to the telephone. He dialed his home number and grew increasingly anxious as the ring tone kept sounding in short intervals. Minutes passed. No one answered. Finally he hung up.

Maybe there’s something wrong with the phone, he thought, searching for a benign explanation. That happens every now and then, so why not today? On the other hand, why should that happen precisely today? he then thought. That would be very strange indeed.

He tried again, but with the same result. He grew more and more worried, and wondered if it wouldn’t be better to go there and see what was happening firsthand, despite the danger that would entail for him as well as for his wife. Then he had the comforting thought that his wife must have decided to play it safe and was spending the night with one of her female friends. This was all the more likely given the fact that under the present circumstances she would be in need of company as well as protection. Of course in that case the servant girl ought to have picked up the phone, but Silbermann simply assumed she must have taken advantage of the opportunity to go to the movies, for which she had a pronounced fondness.